Pre-Planning
As mentioned in the previous trip post, I planned out my trip to Bishkek without affiliation with the AIESEC organization. Like Bishkek, I planned out my trip to Astana on my own accord. However, unlike Bishkek, I only knew I was going to go to Astana less than a week before the day I would depart. This made planning somewhat more frantic and, while I came up with a concrete plan, it was still a nervous experience. Also, it's worth noting that unlike Bishkek these plans had to keep in mind that I would have no guide with me, and that any questions, navigation, or other assistance would need to be procured by my own knowledge of Russian.
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| Map of key points in Astana Note however that I didn't know the exact location of the apartment when I started |
However, the most ridiculous part of the pre-departure phase of the trip was my experience buying the train tickets. The problem began when, while I expected my passport to be available on the night that I was going to buy my tickets, the time for me to acquire it was delayed by a day (My passport was being registered with customs). As documentation is required to purchase a train ticket, this immediately presented a problem. So, (having luckily been offered guidance by a local friend) I went with a guide to the train station, where we firstly needed to set on was finding a way to print my digital image of my passport to see if we could use it (When my original tickets for Astana were purchased, a photo of my passport was used instead). Finally, after looking everywhere, we found a firm open at 11:30 that was willing to let us use the printer. After this, the problems only continued. None of the ticket machines worked or wanted to accept my documentation, and would always come up with a new reason to not work. Finally, at about 1 am the machines agreed with us with some help from an assistant at the trains station.
From there, at about 2 am we exhaustively arrived at the flat, where my friend was extremely glad to see me safely arrived. From there, I gladly passed out on my couch, and had no further problems preparing for the trip ( My passport was returned to me the next day, and now I never lose it from my side).
Sunday, July 20th: Departure
Now, I knew that Global Village, a concluding event with all of the interns in which we present our countries to locals ( I'll talk about it in my final blog post), would be happening on July 20th. Unfortunately, however, I didn't know
that Global Village would be in the evening, but rather thought it would
occur at around noon on Sunday. Due to this, I had purchased my ticket
for around 7pm on Sunday.
However, it later turned out that Global Village would run from 4-8pm. While I didn't have much for Global Village, I still enjoyed the time significantly, and was sad to leave it early. Taking a taxi, I reached the train station about an hour and a half early. Considering I didn't have any AIESECer to guide me through the train station or make sure I didn't miss an announcement, this was a reasonable precaution.At about 6:00, the train arrived.
However, it later turned out that Global Village would run from 4-8pm. While I didn't have much for Global Village, I still enjoyed the time significantly, and was sad to leave it early. Taking a taxi, I reached the train station about an hour and a half early. Considering I didn't have any AIESECer to guide me through the train station or make sure I didn't miss an announcement, this was a reasonable precaution.At about 6:00, the train arrived.
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| The walkway outside our compartments on the Talgo train |
Honestly, I was shocked with how nice the vehicle turned out
being.Extremely modern, even in my
low class tickets the seats were comfortable, spacious, and included a
bed to sleep on.The views were also nice,
but after a point were really just endless steppe.
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| and to your right you can see everything for the next 8 hours |
It was only 9 or 10 when I
cashed in for some much needed early sleep, in what may have been the
most comfortable bed I've slept on in the past month.
Arrival: Monday, July 21st
I woke up naturally around
6:30am, with 2 hours remaining on the train ride. Being on a bunk with an
older man below me, I didn't want to jump down and wake him, so for the
remainder of the trip I simply relaxed on my bed and listened to music.
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| My bed and the compartment, just prior to arriving |
When we arrived in Astana, exiting the train was calm and quick, far from the chaos one normally sees on a plane.Astana's difference from Almaty was quickly apparent. While the section of the city the station is in is far smaller than the usual scene in Almaty, the technology is all extremely modern.
After taxis continuously told me that they would charge no less than 1500 Tenge to take me to the Museum of the First President, and the information desk seemingly refused to give me information on bus routes,( Or as she angrily said in Russian: "I AM NOT A MAP!") I decided to walk to the museum.
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| The trek was pleasant, but I really did about 5 loops around the area of the Museum |
This one hour trek didn't include much sight seeing, but it did provide some interesting perspectives on differences between Almaty and Astana in that part. For one, I found Russian was far less common on the streets of "old Astana." Store signs are in Kazakh, street signs are in Kazakh, people are more often speaking Kazakh. This changed some when entering the new city, but for the time being was quite confusing as I tried to reach the Museum.
Finally, after about 30 of
walking followed by 30 minutes of searching a small radius for the museum
(the roads weren't labeled in that section), I found the Museum of the
First President. And of course:
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| "Closed on Mondays" |
On a brighter side, after
the museum everything was extremely easy to find, as once you reach a
certain point all of the major monuments and buildings are visible from
far.
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| Part of the Astana city view from the river |
After the Museum of the
First President, I crossed the river into Astana Park, which was hardly
notable , being largely torn apart as to accommodate a carnival. However, in the distance one
could already see the rather amazing architecture of Astana, including
the Khan Shatyr, Baityrek Tower, and Presidential Palace, along with
multiple private skyscrapers.
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| The Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center The highest tensile structure in the world |
After reaching the Khan
Shatyr, I took advantage of the opportunity and rested in the food court,
purchasing some water from a grocery store in a lower floor and using the
free internet to assure my family and AIESEC of my safe arrival.
After a bit of rest, I continued from the Khan Shatyr down what I would refer to as the Kazakh "National Mall."Following the Khan Shatyr, I came to the Bayterek tower.
Much to my pleasant surprise, the golden ball
at the top of the Bayterek is actually a hollow viewing deck, and one can
purchase tickets for access with a mere 500 Tenge. Unfortunately, the gold tint of the glass caused problems with taking pictures, but I still managed to get enough memories from this point of the sights.
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| Path from Khan Shatyr to the Bayterek Tower |
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| The Presidential Palace, with the Palace of Peace and Acord slightly visible in the background |
At the top, one could see
all of the amazing architecture new Astana displays. However, the more
interesting sight for me at this height was rather the size of the city.
One doesn't realize when walking through it, but from above one can see
how incredibly small the spread of the city is. Additionally, whereas
Almaty had mountains in the distance, in every direction from Astana
there is nothing but flat steppe extending until the horizon.
After Baiterek, I continued until the Presidential Palace. This part was actually extremely unnerving for me, as, whereas the Baiterek tower had a sizable amount of people in and around the tower taking pictures and sight seeing, the area near the Presidential Palace was empty. By "empty", I don't mean one or two tourists, virtually, basically, or any other hyperbolic modifier. I was literally the only non-military person in sight.
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| Picture before getting out of there because that was incredibly unnerving |
Judging by the fact I didn't get yelled at by the guards, and there were no blocks from the Baiterek to this area, I'm assuming that there was no rule against going to this area. However for some reason none of the tourists visiting the Khan Shatyr and Baiterek seemed to continue to the Presidential Palace. Somewhat discomforted by this, I quickly went past the Presidential Palace and continued towards the Palace of Peace and Accord, across the river behind the Presidential Palace. Once again, the Presidential Park had literally no one in its vicinity. This gave me idea that I could actually take some pictures of myself without help by setting up my camera with a timer and running back to walk towards it again.
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| *Crickets chirping* |
So now I have quite a few
pictures of me emphasizing how much I have been walking.
Finally after a considerable
time just walking on my own, I reached the entrance of the Palace of
Peace and Accord. Once again, this location offered a rather stunning
view of an entirely new set of architectural feats.
Once again, for 500 Tenge I
was able to visit the Palace of Peace and Accord and, with a guided tour
translated in English, visited the precipice of the pyramid. The
symbolism is incredible for the structure. I would include all of the
ways the inner and outer designs were decided, but this post is already
long enough as it is.
Afterwards, I continued to the Independence Square, which included in its vicinity the largest mosque in Central Asia, the "Kazakh Eli" Monument, and the National Museum, which had only opened less than a month ago on Astana Day.
Unfortunately, just like the Museum of the First President, the National Museum was closed on Monday. Even with this, the sights were wonderful.
After concluding my tour through independence square, my day of sight seeing in Astana was finished. Seeing the US Embassy along the way, I later decided to ask them by e-mail if I may be able to enter and see the inner workings of a US Embassy abroad, but they politely responded that they are too short staffed at the moment).
I made
my way back to the Khan Shatyr where I could keep contact by E-mail with
AIESEC and reach out to my family. From there, I learned the location of the flat where AIESEC would be providing me accommodation, and headed there for the night.
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| 22 Kilometers later, quite exhausted |
Whereas AIESEC Almaty has a considerable host of over 20 interns, AIESEC Astana has 3 interns in their entirety. Two girls are from Hong Kong, and one guy is from Turkey.
They were extremely gracious hosts, preparing all meals of the day and always providing interesting conversation. Being the experienced one in the group, as most of them hadn't been in Kazakhstan for more than two weeks, I offered some advice and suggestions as to my own experience with my internship.
In addition, on this day, Bretislav was arriving from Almaty by plane. Thus, as the AIESEC Astana interns left for their own work (They work in the evening, as opposed to our morning/noon work), I stayed in the flat so that I could let in Bretislav when the time came.
Bretislav arrived shortly after they left, and we spent the remainder of the time talking about our work experience over the past week since he left for the summer camp.
The rest of the day went pretty quietly, with us not going out anywhere major and eventually going to sleep at a fairly early time.
Wrapping Up: Wednesday, July 23rd
As my last day in Astana, I focused on completing the museums and then arriving early to the train station as to not allow any room for error. Joined by Bretislav, we took the bus back to Independence Square, starting the trip from the opposite side as I did two days ago. Once again, the area was almost entirely empty.
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| *Crickets still chirping* |
As the museum only opened at 10:30 (it being 9:30 at the time), Bretislav took the opportunity to see the Palace of Peace and Accord while I relaxed some in the lobby, having paid for the tour yesterday. (The receptionist recognized me when I walked in and was very confused at first.)
After purchasing some souviners at the base of the pyramid, we headed back to the National Museum, and were grateful to hear that there as well there were tours to be hosted in English.
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| The National Museum of Kazakhstan: Less than 1 month old |
In addition, whereas in the Palace of Peace and Accord we would join a Kazakh tour and have everything translated secondly, Bretislav and I were treated to our own individual tour guide who went through the museum at our pace.
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| Unfortunately, there was only one room where we could take pictures |
The museum was wonderful. Extremely extensive and extremely interesting, it kept us busy for a considerably longer time than we originally expected. It's also worth noting that this was all true with only about half of the "halls" open and on display.
In conclusion, I walked with Bretislav to the Presidential Palace and afterwards to the Bayterek(The trip was considerably harder than it was the day I went, as on Wednesday the wind in Astana was so strong that occasionally it prevented us from walking.), where we split.
He continued his tour by going up to the top of the tower, while I headed to the Khan Shatyr to solidify my bus routes and make sure everything was in order to leave. Everything went without a hitch at this point, and I easily and without problem left Astana by train at 6:45 pm that evening, ending my time in the capital city.
Thank you for beign a guide for me, I really admire that :) It was really nice there, girls from Hong Kong are incredibly nice people
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